The written exams lasted for three days. Over these days, Tenjo Hikari felt that he was in excellent condition.
Most of the questions were things the teachers had covered. The few "beyond the syllabus" questions were actually old problems presented in a different way. For a student like Tenjo Hikari, coming from the Celestial Dynasty, once he's familiar with these questions, they are simply a piece of cake.
And, although he dared to bet that even a Yu Gi Oh referee could get confused with the rules of many cards, at least in the Duel Academy's exam questions, there were none of those things.
Apart from that, there was also the "Alchemy" course. Not to mention he had a natural talent for alchemy; even without that talent, Tenjo Hikari could quietly ask an Alchemist – though if this approach was found out, it would certainly be counted as cheating. But he wasn't really going to cheat just for a few marks. But anyway, it made him feel secure.
After finishing the few days of written exams, Tenjo Hikari shuffled his deck, contemplating today's practical exam.
Although the written exam is important, at Duel Academy, practical performance is naturally even more important, and the bonus points are higher. If his goal is to be first in the grade, he definitely has to win as much as possible.
And his opponent, unsurprisingly, would definitely be Manjome Jun.
Although most of the time, the school is "fair," sometimes certain students are more equal.
In the anime, Manjome got expelled directly when he cheated, but in this world, Manjome Jun is Kaiba Seto's apprentice. If he really wants to match up against him in the practical exam, the teachers certainly wouldn't mind doing him this favor.
Honestly, if it were the original storyline's Manjome, facing him should also be quite good.
Firstly, as a duelist, his "energy" is naturally high, so as a daily dueling opponent, he's definitely worthy.
And in the original, although he was positioned as the second male lead, his performance was always overshadowed by other characters. In the early part by Marufuji Ryo, the middle by Ed Phoenix, and the later part by John. Clearly, the second male lead, mostly others were doing the work.
So as an opponent, the chance of Tenjo Hikari winning is definitely higher, making it easier to get a scholarship—yet Manjome of this world, due to historical differences, became Kaiba Seto's apprentice like in the manga.
He shuffled his main and extra deck.
First, the main deck, after two months of iterations, he's already removed some filler fusion cards that weren't usable, and the remaining cards are mainly Ready Fusion, Instant Fusion, Fusion Armament, and Sword Dance series cards. Although compared to others, the number of monsters in the main deck is still a bit insufficient, he's actually no longer worried about running out of monsters. Plus, those that have always stayed in the deck without being fused, like Cannon Soldier, Giga-Tech Wolf and Winged Kuriboh Lady Heat, make this deck somewhat "half" monsters.
However, there are still some "abstract" things in the deck that are relatively hard to use.
Besides this, the extra deck is much more luxurious than at the start. Removing Bracchio-raidus and the Great Mammoth of Goldfine, which were for Ready Fusion bullets, Tenjo Hikari's extra deck has been basically overhauled. The deck's "core" consists of two Flame Swordsman, one Dark Flare Knight, along with Flame Wingman, Inferno Wing, Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem, and, apart from these, excellent results of Metamorphosis like "Freezing Swordsman" and "Thousand-Eyes Restrict," as well as the currently unusable yet exciting "Master of Chaos."
And this also brought about some new issues.
That is, the extra deck is about to burst, and some inherited Fusion Monsters need to be removed.
Actually, Tenjo Hikari hadn't thought about this before, because in his memory, wasn't the extra deck in the anime unlimited in number? Only after the teacher reminded him of the extra quantity did he remember that in the original, Judai also once worried about what to remove to add "Shining Flare Wingman" to his deck.
He shuffled the extra, currently it's "almost full," but not quite because even if you add the newly acquired "Fullmetalfoes Alkahest," the extra deck technically isn't full, and even including the Fusion Monster of the Cyber Dragon created by Super Polymerization after that day's duel ends, it is actually still enough.
But plans have to be made early.
"Next match, Obelisk Blue - Manjome, versus, Ra Yellow - Tenjo Hikari! Both examinees, please proceed to the designated venue and prepare!"
Hearing his name, Tenjo Hikari quickly put away his deck and headed to the examination site.
Over there, Manjome was already waiting for quite some time.
"Ah, Hikari's opponent is Manjome? Go for it, Manjome!"
"Why are you cheering for me, you guy!"
"Then… Hikari, do your best!"
"Just you wait—" Manjome shouted disgruntledly at the crowd below.
Afterward, he turned his head towards Tenjo Hikari.
Honestly, Tenjo Hikari's appearance always made him feel a bit scared.
Students in purple uniforms are members of the Fusion Department, and they have a terrible reputation among the regular students, generally considered to be lunatics.
Behind Tenjo Hikari, there were some Fusion Department students following him, who couldn't help but discuss when they saw Tenjo Hikari's opponent.
"Tenjo-san's opponent is that Manjome?" "Isn't it that guy who got in through connections?"
"I heard he ran away after losing to Yuki Judai, how dare he come back?"
"It's upsetting to be in an academy with such a guy in the same color, I'm so glad I switched to purple."
"Brother Hikari, go for it!" "Go, Tenjo, show him what you've got!"
Manjome clutched his fists with a sour expression, yet didn't refute or say anything.
Tenjo Hikari's expression fell immediately, and he shouted to the classmates behind him, "Don't make it look like I'm the villain here!"
The Fusion Department students were still too influenced by the Activity Department's atmosphere.
He turned back, wore a smile, and said to Manjome, "Manjome-san, it's been a while. I am Tenjo Hikari, a first-year in the Fusion Department!"
Although still displeased, seeing Tenjo Hikari like this made him feel a bit better: "Don't call me Manjome—
I am, the ten, hundred, thousand—Manjome Thunder!"
He raised his hand high and shouted at the students behind Tenjo Hikari.
"Uhh… okay?"
Tenjo Hikari didn't expect that although the historical progression was somewhat different, Manjome's level of chūnibyō hadn't changed.
"Duel!" x2
"My turn!" Manjome eagerly wanted to perform and showcase himself, so he drew a card without hesitation.
He shouted so fast!
Tenjo Hikari was amazed.
"Normal Summon, Armored Dragon - Armed Dragon-"
A dragon-warrior covered in verdigris and red armor flew out from the card.
"Armed Dragon?" He previously saw that Northern Academy still used Armed Dragons. He thought Manjome in this world wouldn't use Armed Dragons, not expecting there was another series.
Armored Dragon - Armed Dragon-, LV4, Wind Attribute, Dragon-Type, ATK 1900.
"An LV 4 monster with an ATK of 1900?"
"Sure enough, that guy utilized Kaiba Company's resources—otherwise, how could he easily get such rare cards?"
People around started discussing again.
This made Manjome even more annoyed.
But—
At this moment.
Tenjo Hikari took a deep breath, held up his Duel Disk, and shouted: "I also have Fusion Cards that no one else has!"
"The key is whether to make good use of them!"
"Otherwise, everyone will just end up like Senior Ryu... having powerful cards but not knowing how to use them."
These Fusion Department students came to watch him, whether they considered him an idol or simply wanted to learn some techniques. Since they were here, of course, he had to be responsible.
He looked at the slightly bewildered Manjome and snapped his fingers lightly: "Come on, Manjome-san, show me your duel."
Manjome held his card stiffly for a long time, finally taking a deep breath.
He now understood why Judai was not discouraged despite losing to Tenjo Hikari and actually looked quite happy.
Could it be that there are such people in the Fusion Department?
"Hmph, it's Manjome Thunder!"